Pomegranate Molasses

Ever since Pom Wonderful started marketing the health benefits of pomegranate juice, and selling them in those cool pom shaped bottles, more and more recipes calling for pomegranate molasses have been popping up. Pomegranate molasses is a traditional ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking and can be used in a variety of dishes such as Fesenjan Persian chicken stew or eggplant lentil stew. You can also mix it with a little orange juice and club soda for a refreshing punch. Pomegranate molasses can be found at Middle Eastern markets, or you can easily make some yourself with some pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon. (Find more pomegranate molasses recipes by searching food blogs.)

Pomegranate Molasses Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups pomegranate juice

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Method

In a large, uncovered saucepan, heat pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice on medium high until the sugar has dissolved and the juice simmers. Reduce heat just enough to maintain a simmer. Simmer for about an hour, or until the juice has a syrupy consistency, and has reduced to 1 to 1 1/4 cups. Pour out into a jar. Let cool. Store chilled in the refrigerator.

If you want your pomegranate molasses to be sweeter, add more sugar to taste, while you are cooking it.

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I love pomegranate juice. For those who don’t want to spend the dough on the POM juices, Trader Joe’s now has 100 percent pomegranate juice, as well as tasty blends (pom and blueberry, pom and cherry are my favorites).

I love the versatility of pomegranate juice. I found that they sell the molasses/glaze at Trader Joes though the last time I was there they were sold out. Surfas, here in L.A. also has a pomegranate glaze/molasses which is wonderful. Add some to BBQ sauce for a nice fruity flavor plus heightened red color.

How cool is this? I was just looking for recipes for Thanksgiving appetizers and found one for Muhammara in Cooks’ Illustrated. It gave a substitute for pomegranate molasses since it’s so hard to find. While we do have middle eastern groceries here, I probably would have saved the time of looking for it. And now a recipe for the real deal just shows up in my email!

A little late here, but I wanted to pop in and say that I used this as a glaze for my Thanksgiving Cornish hens and it was fantastic. It added just the right touch of sweetness without being too much and it browned up nicely on their skins.

My Mom and I made Pomegranate jelly and didn’t want to waist the remainer of the pulp on the seeds. So we put seeds and more of the cleaned pomegranate seeds into a blender, poured into a culander and to our amasement We got the pulp and made Jam too. The blender dosen’t chop up the seeds, but just removes the fruit from the seed. Try it, Irma

Elise – I made pomegranate molasses recently myself, by simply slowly boiling a litre of good-quality pomegranate juice (from Azerbaijan), until there was just under 200 ml of thick, sweet-n-sour juice left. No sugar, no lemon (NB! the juice itself had no added sugar either!) Very nice, and I’ve been successfully using it in recipes asking for pomegranate molasses.

Thanks for this recipe. But what can I do with the molasses? I received a bottle of it, last Christmas, but had no idea, what to do with it.
I eventually made something with it, but not sure what, right now.

Thanks so much everyone for all of the tips. I have been looking for pomegranate molasses and thought I saw it at Trader Joe’s but couldn’t remember for sure. I went to a cooking class at Hip Cooks and we used some to glaze a pork tendorloin. I am also glad to know that they carry it at Surfas. Does anyone know if Whole Foods carries it? I will definately try to make it myself with Pomegranate juice from Trader Joes.

If you want to recommend anything for juicing pomegranates, THIS IS THE TOOL!

It is an antique/vintage Wear-Ever aluminum press. You can find them on E-Bay for around $5.00 to $10.00. Any other way to juice a quantity of pomegranates is just TOO hard. I can do about 3 Gallons per hour with this. After I collect the juice, I refrigerate and then carefully decant/strain through coffee filters. Wonderfully clear juice to make jelly, etc.

Jeff Denno

Note from Elise: Hi Jeff, we use a Wear-Ever press also, when we don’t want to do the extra effort of deseeding the poms by hand. Great device.

Pommegranites have only just recently hit our
shelves here, I love the sharp/sweet taste and
just recently we were visiting Turkey where in a
lot of places we were served tomato halves,
sprinkled with a little sugar and then just before serving them they would drizzle over a
bit of the pommegranite sauce. My daughter said
they use it a lot over there, and I have now
managed to source some here in New Zealand.
I have also sprinkled some of the seeds over
shredded lamb along with chopped mint, a
Nigella Lawson recipe but lovely all the same.

Hmmmm. I am in the process of making the pom. molasses. However, it’s been cooking for two hours and it has not thicken at all; it has reduced to 2 cups from the original four but still runny. I thought maybe if I added some more sugar, it might thicken but no luck. I need this for a gourmet dinner tonight – help! Can anyone tell me how thick it is supposed to get. I don’t see any comments about that in any of the posting. Thanks!

I would turn up the heat and boil it harder so it would reduce faster. ~Elise

Hey Lydia! Great minds think alike. I was in Whole Foods Market the other day searching for Pom molasses. Could not find any until one of the store attendant sent me to the juice aisle. Suddenly it dawned on me if I can’t find pom molasses, hey why dont I make it and that’s exactly what I did. Isn’t that innovative or what.

hi i would like to know how long pom juice will last in fridge,It is a fantastic juice for well being.i am going to make molasses as well.im not sure if juice will oxcidide as i was told it might.regards kerry

Good question, we usually drink the juice before it becomes an issue. I don’t really know how long the juice would last. ~Elise

Fyi. Persian stores sell two kinds of pomegranate molasses. A sweet one and a sour. The store/restaurant I buy has a kind woman who shared with me that frequently they mix the two for Fessenjoon. I make it and adore Persian cuisine.

Just trying this recipe to use as a glaze on a whole chicken. Excited. Forgot lemon juice at the store so using lime instead and trying it without sugar. Seems like an adaptable recipe. Tastes awesome alone – can’t wait to taste dinner tonight!